Musings on video games, media, & sometimes research

Category Archives: research

One of my over-arching research interests involves how the appearance of video game characters effects the player-experience, as well as how identification with game characters effects self-perception on social-psychological dimensions.

Last fall, I started a pilot study (think of it as a trial or test-run) for an experiment where college-age, self-identified women played a video game where the character was either dressed in a sexualized or in a non-sexualized outfit. Essentially, the pilot’s main purpose was to confirm that my experimental conditions were reliable, or to put it another way, perceived as consistent when multiple people did the study. Because I was interested in exploring the effect of a game character’s appearance on self-perception, I wanted to be sure that people would consistently rate the sexualized character as, well, sexualized, and that the same character dressed in casual attire was perceived as non-sexualized. Thankfully, my pilot study confirmed this, and I was able to launch the full experiment in January.

While I did eventually finish the full experiment in April, I’ve yet to actually sit down and examine the results (but soon, after I finish analyzing my character design interview data!). However, I did find a somewhat unexpected – but nonetheless interesting – outcome from the pilot that sheds some insight on how a sexualized appearance of a game character influences their perceived skill.

The Pilot Study

For my experiment, forty-three undergraduates played the game Resident Evil: Revelations 2. All participants self-identified as female and the majority identified as White/Caucasian (81%). The average age of players was twenty years old. Everyone in the study played the Story Mode portion of the game for fifteen minutes. Following game play, participants filled out a questionnaire about the video game and the playable game characters, Claire and Moira.

As mentioned above, the pilot tested whether my conditions were reliable. Each participant was randomly assigned to either play as Claire and Moira in their sexualized or non-sexualized attire. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 was perfect for testing these two conditions because the story can be played with either characters’ default or bonus costumes (the player can switch between Claire and Moira in the story mode, as they both appear onscreen at the same time). For the purposes of my study, their default costumes were used for the non-sexualized condition. Claire’s bonus Rodeo costume and Moira’s bonus Urban Ninja costume were used for the sexualized condition.

After game play, everyone was asked a series of questions about the characters. I wanted to ensure that the characterizations were consistent despite the changes in attire. The only difference I hoped to find in the study was for differences in sexualization between the default and bonus attire conditions (which I did find). In addition to several questions about the characters’ attire, both characters were assessed based on six adjectives using a 7-point semantic differential scale. The characters were rated on the following: attractive/unattractive; strong/weak; aggressive/submissive; violent/passive; skillful/incompetent; good/evil.

No significant differences between the two portrayals were found in terms of Claire’s and Moira’s attractiveness, strength, aggression, violence, and moral character. However, significant differences were found for Claire’s skill, in which participants rated sexualized Claire as more incompetent (i.e. less skillful; Mean = 2.70, Standard Deviation = 1.75) than non-sexualized Claire (M = 1.63, SD = 1.01). This outcome was not the case for Moira.

This difference may have emerged because Claire is the main playable character who is capable of attacking enemies with a gun whereas Moira can only attack enemies with a crowbar. As such, most participants played as Claire for the majority of the time. The difference in Claire’s rated skilled by attire suggests that players may have deemed her sexualized attire as impractical for fighting zombies. This may have influenced Claire’s perceived competency as questionable given the game’s context in which a lack of clothing seems like poor judgement.

Costume and Context Matter

Although I was not anticipating any differences in Claire’s skill between the sexualized and non-sexualized attire conditions, differences did indeed emerge. What does this tell us? I think it stands to reason that the sexualization of female game characters as an expression of empowerment will not always hold for specific contexts. Given that Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is an action-horror game where the main characters are kidnapped and imprisoned against their will, seeing Claire in a state of relative undress likely enhances her vulnerability in the situation which could have an effect on her perceived skilled, or ability to handle the circumstance.

Claire’s sexualization had the effect of diminishing her perceived competency. Given that players were fighting zombie-like enemies in a run-down facility, her attire may have conveyed a lack of sensible judgement on her part. Given the outcome, I think it demonstrates the importance of considering how sexualization of a game character is interpreted within the context of gameplay. When a game presents a situation where a character is vulnerable and fighting for their survival, as with Resident Evil: Revelations 2, a sexualized appearance may influence whether that character is deemed competent enough to handle the situation. This is especially important for game designers to consider when creating a character they want to portray as skilled and competent, despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them.

Obviously, it should go without saying that a different game and a different character may produce different results. Furthermore, participants in this study went into the game ‘blind’ and were unaware that the sexualized Rodeo attire is a bonus costume not intended as the default attire worn by Claire in the game’s story mode. Her default attire in the story is non-sexualized, and it is a player’s choice which costumes they want Claire and Moira to wear in the game. Understanding this context, as well as enabling a choice of costumes, could also lead to different results. Expect more nuanced findings once I do the data analysis for the full experiment, in a few months!

Several weeks ago – not long after I returned from my first Game Developer’s Conference – I realized something important: I’d like to apply my social scientific research skills and knowledge of media theories towards games user research. I’m fortunate enough to be in an interdisciplinary Media School where I’ve established a good rapport with many of the faculty members in the Game Design program as an Associate Instructor and the Lead Intern for Women in Game Design. After considering that I had certain skills that might be useful to the student game developers in the program, I pitched an idea to Professor of Practice Mike Sellers: his game design students in Workshop I, the first major game development course required for all students pursuing the B.S. in Game Design, could benefit from UX analysis and thorough playtesting feedback. So why not receive a little help from a Ph.D. student eager for more experience in conducting this kind of research?

Prof. Sellers agreed that I could offer useful insights and a collaboration was born!

The first student game project I’ve playtested is Tori, a meditative music exploration game in which players assume the role of a small bird collecting sounds from a stylized environment made up of several small islands. I recently sat down with Joseph Adams, a developer on Team Tori, for my first playtesting session with Tori where I offered some feedback on general usability, discussed below.

Gameplay and Feedback

Currently, the ‘bubbles’ which represent the aura of sounds for different objects in the environment are all colorized the same – a pale yellow color. These sounds can be collected by the player and dropped, in bubble form, to a new location. The collection and re-placement of sound-bubbles is an integral mechanic of the game’s progression system.

Collecting sound bubbles in Tori

I suggested that the different objects, and thus sounds, might be color-coded, so that when player’s drop these sound-bubbles in new locations, they might more readily recall which bubble represents the sound attributed to a rock, bell, lantern, or other unique objects in the world. A color-coding scheme might be integral further into development, as players will be tasked with dropping sounds in new locations in order to replicate a tune provided by a non-playable character, in order to unlock new islands to visit and explore. As is, the placement of bubbles that are all the same color, especially when the player is expected to imitate a tune using the collected sounds, could get a bit confusing. Currently, there is no feedback that identifies what object the sound-bubble represents once it has be removed from the object and placed elsewhere in the environment. Color-coding the sound-bubbles to be unique based on the object of origin could simplify the identification process.

Particle effect on wingtips to signify increased velocity

I also noted that additional audio-feedback might improve player experience. Currently, when players fly downward, the speed of flight increases. This interaction is paired with visual feedback of a particle effect trailing from the tip of the bird’s wings – a ‘speed trail,’ perhaps. It’s pretty and conveys the message, but might be paired with an accompanying sound effect, such as rushing wind, to match the visuals and reinforce the feedback.

This particle effect was misinterpreted by a player during a recent playtest. I took notes, along with student developer Joshua Smith, during a session with university students who played Tori for the first time. We invited the players to voice their thoughts as they played, and a participant misinterpreted the ‘speed trail’ as visual feedback to signify when the bird is carrying a sound bubble. Thus, playing an accompanying sound effect (e.g. rushing wind) might reinforce the visuals as the effect of speed during flight.

All in all, Tori is a simple and beautiful game that shows a lot of promise for its unique aesthetics and features. I look forward to conducting more playtests with new users and discovering new ways to enhance the project’s usability and player experience!

Follow Team Tori on Tumblr & Twitter for more updates. Many thanks to Prof. Mike Sellers and Team Tori for collaborating with this video game researcher.

The Media School at Indiana University graciously featured some of my research that I’ll be presenting at the school’s graduate student conference on April 7th. I’ll be presenting during the Video Game Studies panel from 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. in Franklin Hall 312 along with fellow graduate students Alex Mirowski (Informatics) and Ken Rosenberg (Media School).

The Media School wrote:

Jess Tompkins, a third-year doctoral student at the school, will present her video game research, which is a textual analysis of fan fiction based on the popular game Call of Duty, a first-person shooter game in which the players are soldiers at war.

The game, Tompkins explained, is extremely male oriented and depicts a very specific type of persona known as “military masculine.”

“Fan fiction is a pretty active subculture, and it negotiates ways that contrast the main stream ideas imposed in the game, particularly around gender,” she said. “Authors insert female characters or create romantic relationships between two current male characters to get their own enjoyment out of the games.”

Tompkins took about 40 pieces of Call of Duty fan fiction and, using social psychological theories, examined the stories and wrote an analysis. Her work is set to be published as a chapter in a new book, Call of Duty Essay Collection.

I would like to kindly correct some inaccuracies given that I was not provided a draft to copy-edit prior to this piece’s publication. The specific concept is “military masculinity” (not military masculine), and while my research, in general, applies social-psychological theories, this particular analysis was largely informed by Stuart Hall’s notion of encoding and decoding as applied to media production and audiences. 🙂

Tompkins describes her life-long enjoyment of video games and the gender politics that manifest in the game design industry and gamer culture. She explains that, in her early years, the sexualization of women in games “seemed normal,” saying, “I was being exposed to sexualized women in advertising, in films, long before I saw sexualized women in games.”

I’m looking to speak with game designers, developers, concept artists, etc. about character design for video games. Please don’t hesitate to contact me regarding any questions. All interviewees will remain anonymous.

Feel free to share the text via email and social media:

If you have worked on a video game development team you are invited to participate in a short interview that will investigate the process and decision-making behind character conceptualization and video game design. As you may be aware, video game content has been scrutinized by both the public and academics alike with little consideration of the industry’s perspective. This study seeks to understand the design process from the practical and economic considerations of the industry in order to balance out the academic research that has overlooked these factors.

The interviews will be conducted by Jessica Tompkins (Ph.D. student) and Dr. Nicole Martins of the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington. Jessica and Nicole have previously conducted research on video games and Jess herself is an avid gamer. Participation involves a single interview via Skype or phone. All participants will be entered to win one $50 Amazon gift card, the odds of winning dependent on the total number of participants (about 1 in 20 or 1 in 25).

If you are at least 18 years old, have worked on character creation for games, and would like more information about participating, please contact: Jessica Tompkins at jetompki@indiana.edu or Nicole Martins at nicomart@indiana.edu.

Interviews will last approximately 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Participants will remain anonymous in any papers or presentations that may emerge from this study.

Research on games and game design lacks dialogue between those who make games and those who study games and game design as a profession. I’m hardly the first researcher to make this observation, I’m sure, and I’m certain a similar disconnect is present for researchers within other areas of media studies, such film production and criticism. Still, it’s a big challenge to overcome, and one hurdle I hope to see diminish with time, for the academics who study games and hope to instill some kind of positive change.

It’s easy to see where this weak relationship stems. Since the introduction of violent games such as Mortal Kombat and Doom in the early 1990s the medium has stirred an ongoing debate about graphic interactive content and potential negative effects on players, particularly youths. Unsurprisingly, many industry professionals harbor a general distrust towards academics given the breadth of media effects research which links violent and aggressive outcomes to video game players. Additionally, communication, media, and gender scholars have investigated the prominence of sexualized female characters in games and the potential detrimental effects associated with exposure to such stereotypes within interactive and virtual environments. Industry professionals may perceive such scrutiny on video game effects as attacks on creative work and on the medium as a whole. Yet, both academics and professionals, I think, could benefit from investing more trust and understanding in one another.

Academics, in conversation with game designers and producers, could be made aware of the variety of constraints and other factors which influence creation of game content. For instance, studios may have a financial incentive to continue production of stereotypes in games over time if such representations have proven financially successfully in the past. This may also place some accountability on game consumers and not just the studios who market and make games, which might even be a source of frustration to some creatives who want to diversify content yet are limited by financial pressures to conform with money-making formulas. Additionally, game developers might reflect upon such constraints from a more critical context in conversation with researchers who are concerned about game content and advocate for more variety in design.

Academic publications on video game content and effects often end with a generic ‘call to action’ – that designers should make content less violent and more diverse; that the Entertainment Software Association should create more nuanced and varied ratings to inform families of inappropriate content. Such statements have the best intentions for players and families but, in the echo chamber that is a paper’s “Recommendations and Conclusion” section, somewhat lack sincerity and genuine passion. Games research which makes suggestions in consideration of designers, developers, and the industry as a business might actually have more impact than research that lacks the perspectives of designers and creatives.

An aca-gamer conducting serious research.

Why this post, why now? Because I’m currently attempting such a study and I’m running into a few road blocks. I’m seeking interviews with professionals in the game industry who have worked on character design and, while I’ve had several fantastic and articulate people reach out and speak with me so far, I’ll need to hear from more voices in order to have a more representative collection of insights for the complete study. I hope that such a study, as well as others, might strengthen the dialogue between game researchers and academics and improve the quality and scope of games for all.

Please feel free to share the below study information.

Video Game Character Design Study

If you have worked on a video game development team you are invited to participate in a short interview that will investigate the process and decision-making behind character conceptualization and video game design. As you may be aware, video game content has been scrutinized by both the public and academics alike with little consideration of the industry’s perspective. This study seeks to understand the design process from the practical and economic considerations of the industry in order to balance out the academic research that has overlooked these factors.

The interviews will be conducted by Jessica Tompkins (Ph.D. student) and Dr. Nicole Martins of the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington. Jessica and Nicole have previously conducted research on video games and Jess herself is an avid gamer. Participation involves a single interview via Skype or phone. All participants will be entered to win one $50 Amazon gift card, the odds of winning dependent on the total number of participants (about 1 in 20 or 1 in 25).

If you are at least 18 years old, have worked on character creation for games, and would like more information about participating, please contact: Jessica Tompkins at jetompki@indiana.edu or Nicole Martins at nicomart@indiana.edu.

Interviews will last approximately 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Participants will remain anonymous in any papers or presentations that may emerge from this study.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Last time I posted to my blog, more than three months ago, I solicited participants for the Cosplay Motivations Questionnaire. I collected nearly 260 ‘hits’ to the online survey but only about 190 participants actually completed the entire questionnaire. By distributing a new link, I hope to collect more information in order to draw more robust conclusions about cosplay and fan identities.

If you’ve already taken the survey, I can’t thank you enough. I only encourage you to share the link with fellow cosplayers and explain the importance of finishing an online survey. It’s a challenge to interpret your results when pieces of the puzzle are missing!